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Since MIT opened the first-of-its-kind venture studio within a university in 2019, it has demonstrated how a systemic process can help turn research into impactful ventures.
Now, MIT Proto Ventures is launching the “R&D Venture Studio Playbook,” a resource to help universities, national labs, and corporate R&D offices establish their own in-house venture studios. The online publication offers a comprehensive framework for building ventures from the ground up within research environments.
I've noticed it is very country dependent whether researchers are encouraged to turn their work into profitable companies. Paradoxically, in my experience, Europe is providing many opportunities like that, despite its image of stifling innovation with regulations. Here in Korea, it seems to be much more aimed at short term profit for a founder rather than building something that lasts on it own for years without being killed by the Chaebols. That's just an impression though.
219 sats \ 2 replies \ @optimism 13h
The Europe point is mostly made because startups there aren't huge unicorns. Unicorns are purely a money printer, not like the USD, no... like shitcoins: I give you 11m, you give me 1% of shares. Congratulations you're now a unicorn because 11m / 0.01 = 1.1b. Pure printing of hypothetical value because someone needed to put money in anything because that's better than sucking the inflation.
Yes, European permissioning is shitty. But how can there be millions upon millions of entrepreneurs that aren't bankrupt? Why are there still companies in the EU at all? Because they deal with it. Against what apparently are "the odds".
Is it optimal for valuation? No. Optimal for expansion? No. Are there many EU entrepreneurs that live a good life, on the average better than most wage slaves? Yes. Success isn't really measured in billions of fiat moneys; that's just what they tell you to make you dream of something all your life, to keep you in line.
EU spends a ton of collective money on grants, and having worked on projects (partially) funded by these, I think they're a waste of money, and time. For example I once ran a huge commercial project in Germany and a tiny grant-funded project in Belgium at the same time, both with similar requirements. Where the former was making real change, the latter was just copying things that were figured out already commercially and keeping the donor happy. So I think the European people are better off if their money isn't wasted like that. Maybe they too can get a tax break if the bs stops.
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If I read you correctly, you're against the hyperinflated US unicorn culture, but also against EU-style bureaucracy and inefficient use of funds.
Seems like a reasonable take.
I wonder if anyone has found a middle ground between those two extremes...
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72 sats \ 0 replies \ @optimism 12h
I wonder if anyone has found a middle ground between those two extremes...
There are way more small businesses in any place that don't get billion dollar valuations or grant money than there are unicorns. So I think the answer already exists. They're just not newsworthy because they are plenty. Most of them are ran by hardworking smart people. People that don't measure themselves against billionaires but get satisfaction from the impact they have, even if its just in their local community.
I think that it's good that MIT wants there to be more and better incubators though; incubators may help people get on the right track and stay on it. Also, the idea to actively develop otherwise idle patents is great. Then if it's actually good, there is progress, and if not then it can provably fail and either be improved or written off; also progress. So all together: do itttt. How it'll be funded... yeah. Hopefully with some common sense.
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